Women taking on 'male' jobs

For International Women in Engineering Day,
The New Paper speaks to women who are passionate
about their Stem careers

Earlier this year, she had to give a morning
"toolbox" talk.

Miss Ivie Sim, 27, is a senior development executive at
Australian developer Lendlease, and she had to address hundreds of
construction workers at the Paya Lebar Quarter project on workplace
safety.

"It was the first time a female project member was
addressing the workers, and it was quite intimidating," said Miss
Sim, who has been with Lendlease since she graduated more than 3
1/2 years ago

But her encouraging colleagues helped make the
presentation a success.

Miss Sim is among a growing number of women carving out
careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(Stem) industries here, thanks to growing support from the industry
and academic institutions.

A Mastercard Girls in Tech survey last December
revealed that 77 per cent of first jobbers who graduated with a
Stem degree took less than six months to land their first job.

According to the Agency for Science, Technology and
Research, there were 2,740 female PhD holders among the research
scientists and engineers here across the private and public sectors
in 2015,a 58 per cent increase since 2010.

But the Mastercard survey also revealed that 68 per
cent of the teenage girls here are disinterested in Stem subjects,
and 49 per cent believe that girls are less likely to choose Stem
subjects because they think such jobs are male-dominated.

Lendlease project engineer June Ng, 26, was not
deterred by the idea of being in a male-dominated industry.

"Working in a male-dominated environment can be
intimidating initially, but through a strong support system, I have
learnt how to turn what appears to be a disadvantage into an
advantage," said Miss Ng.

She is involved in the reviewing of design documents to
ensuring that the company's compliance codes are met
satisfactorily.

EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUP

At Lendlease, Miss Ng joined the company's Employee
Resource Group, and seeks the advice of some of the women
there.

Working in tandem is the company's Women in
Construction Network, which aims to "grow the current pool of
female site engineers by providing a platform for female engineers
to share experiences and best practices", said a spokesman.

Its efforts may be paying off - 75 women make up 22 per
cent of the overall Stem roles at Lendlease Singapore, and 57 per
cent of graduates recruited for Stem roles over the last five years
were women.

Madam Abigail Wong, 28, a process engineer at local
water and energy firm Hyflux, sees her job as essential to
enriching the lives of others.

"We get to see our design come to fruition when the
plants are being built and operated," she said.

"There is a sense of achievement when you make it
happen, and you believe that what you have done will actually
improve the users' lives."

Madam Wong said young women should not be dissuaded
from Stem careers by their own perceptions.

"If you like to crunch numbers, tinker with spare parts
or even write codes, by all means go ahead and make a difference to
people's lives," she said.

"Always remember that your capabilities are not limited
by your gender - it is limited by your own mind, so keep learning
and keep asking questions."

I have the experience of working in a male-dominated
environment, where the older men dislike it if you are too vocal.
You really need to phrase what you say or do well, which is good
and bad. It is stressful but you grow a lot.